Robyn Cerretti Memorial, 2008 (detail) artificial flowers, dust, wire, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist and Manningham Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria.

17 July – 28 August 2010

Gallery 1 and 24:7

This installation has responded to the space within the Lismore Regional Gallery, from its original showing at the Manningham City Gallery in 2008, by incorporating new works that provide a multi-sensory experience to engage viewers, particularly young adults, to consider the serious issue of road trauma.

The concept behind this exhibition is to engage the viewer, particularly young adults, in an experiential consideration of road trauma and more broadly of time and mortality.

Extreme Speed is the apparent cause of a motor vehicle accident in which three teenagers died. The roadside memorial erected to commemorate them forms the main component of this exhibition.

A 50-minute looped video displays the image of a power pole, with memorial objects attached, as a central vertical separator between the acutely steep road in the background and the proximity of the road in the foreground. The video speed has been reduced and is extremely slow. Cars are seen to barely move up and down the road and disappear for extended periods behind the memorial. At times there is imperceptible movement extending the duration the viewer spends with the work.

A large floor sculpture comprises a pile of artificial flowers, sourced from cemetery refuse, representing the traditional memorial object. The abject pile of flowers emits a smell of dirt but seen from a distance, and in reflection, their colour is reminiscent of beauty, romance and youth. A string of downward facing flowers extends from the centre of the pile to the ceiling.

The reflective works are suggestive of automotive metal: a flat, square panel of Ferrari Red duco and 3D chromed letters. They are intended to represent both meanings of the word reflective, to contemplate and to mirror. Their surface provides the point of impact, including the viewer within the space in real time, in ‘now’.

Along with the reflective works, the headphone audio is an interactive component in which the viewer is able to choose to participate. The interior car audio records a group of teenagers on a road-trip with ambient sounds including voices, music and road noise. The exterior car audio is the sound of engine, tyres, and wind.

The works are large in scale but don’t completely fill the gallery space so along with the cool temperature, the dim lighting and the soft sound of bird song this installation creates a minimal and meditative environment to be navigated by the viewer.